


Caught Me or Called Me

by Theoroark



Series: Dark Room [9]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Established Relationship, F/F, Fade to Black, Sombra and Ashe are exes, Team Talon (Overwatch)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-25 01:53:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16652050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theoroark/pseuds/Theoroark
Summary: In which Widowmaker meets her girlfriend's ex, and can't shoot her problems away. Probably.





	Caught Me or Called Me

"I don't know why you had to bring both Sombra and me," Widow said. In the pilot's seat of their low-flying ship, Reyes sighed.    
  
"Make fun of them all you want. But Deadlock controls every criminal operation in the Southwest, and they didn't get there through incompetence or being friendly to newcomers. So I don't want you slacking here."   
  
"They're TEXANS, Reyes."   
  
Reyes let out another sigh, and looked back at his other passenger meaningfully. Sombra cleared her throat.    
  
"I mean, he's not wrong. They are good."   
  
"Thank you," Reyes grumbled.    
  
"But we're better. And they are Texans. So."   
  
Reyes sighed his longest sigh yet, and Widow grinned and kissed Sombra's cheek as she giggled.    
  
"Well," Reyes said. The ship began to slow and descend. "They're good enough to have anti-aircraft guns. So we're walking from here."   
  
The highway they walked down was abandoned, lined with gas stations with windows smashed and long-defunct fast food chains. The sky was clear overhead and the sun was blisteringly hot. This did not bother Widow much. What did bother her, however, was the miles of cover around them, and the utter silence surrounding them.    
  
"Reyes," Widow hissed. He turned to her. "Maybe Sombra should go invisible and you and I should get to the high ground." Sombra nodded, looking between them.    
  
"That's not a bad idea."   
  
Widow saw Reyes look around at the derelict buildings, and her stomach sank a little. Teleporting and going wraith were arduous, painful tasks for him, and she knew he was loathe to do it. "You said the start of their territory isn't for another mile, right?" he asked Sombra. She pulled up a map and inspected it.    
  
"Yeah," she said. "But I mean. Shit can change between when I got this data and now." Reyes said nothing and Sombra glanced over his shoulder at Widow. "But uh. What if I go invisible and scout ahead, and you two lay low until I get back?"   
  
"Good," Reyes said. Widow mouthed "thank you" to Sombra, who smiled, blew her a kiss, and turned invisible. Widow caught the gleam of her translocator arcing in the sun, and then lost it. She sat down on the pavement. Reyes looked down at her.    
  
"You're not hot?"   
  
"I don't feel the heat," she said. He nodded and stood there, arms folded. After a couple minutes, he pivoted and started towards an abandoned McDonalds.    
  
"I do," he said, as Widow stared after him. She shrugged and trotted to join him. And she was right beside him when he pushed the door, and set off the alarm.    
  
They both wheeled to face the street. The wailing was echoing down the canyon, and was almost immediately answered with revving engines, horrifyingly close. Reyes moved himself in front of Widow.    
  
"Widow," he said. "Hide."   
  
"I can–"   
  
"This isn't some chivalrous thing, Widow," he said. The engines sounds were coming closer and he was speaking fast. "I have a better chance of escaping than you do. They don't know how many of us there were. Hide, wait till they're all gone, and we'll rendezvous at the ship."   
  
Widow stared at him, then nodded. She ran through the door and slid behind the counter, then leaned up against it, her knees tucked into her chest. She heard the engine roar reach a fever pitch then stop, then she heard the clack of boot heels on concrete.    
  
A woman spoke, her voice casual. "If you wanted a burger, I could recommend some better spots." There was silence. Widow desperately wanted to look up, see if she and Reyes could take out the group together, but she didn't dare lift her head.    
  
"So," the woman continued. "What're you doing in this part of town, anyway? Got lost on your way takin’ the kids to the Alamo?"   
  
"Ashe," a man said. "That's Reaper, he's–"   
  
"I know who he is," Ashe snapped. Widow heard boots hitting pavement again. "I'll be honest," Ashe said. "I'm not a big fan of your getup. A bit much. But what I'm really not a fan of is folks trying to steal my turf."    
  
Her voice was low and menacing. Widow could not help herself. She slowly, carefully, lifted herself up and peeked over the counter. There was a white haired woman holding her rifle to Reaper's throat, and three people pointing guns at him as well. All of them were staring at him. Widow pulled the Widow's Kiss off her shoulder and fired it at the closest man.    
  
He fell, and Ashe jerked back, causing Widow's next bullet to whistle past her. A man came run blindly towards her position and Widow heard Ashe yelling "Stop!" right as she pulled the trigger. Widow turned the rifle back to where Ashe was, but when she found her, Ashe was not in distress or disarray. Ashe was looking down her own scope back at her. The third man had his gun on Reyes.    
  
"Tell you what's gonna happen," Ashe said. "You're going to put that gun down. And hell, since I'm feeling generous today, I'll tell you what's gonna happen if you don't do that. You'll decide to shoot, and you'll be dead before you even start pullin' the trigger."   
  
"You're quite confident for a woman at gunpoint," Widow said. Behind her scope, she saw Ashe grin.    
  
"I didn't get here through a science experiment, darlin'," she said. Widow bristled. "I got here because I'm quick as hell. So I know what's going on. But you want to play dumb, well. It's your choice."   
  
Widow did not dare look away, to try to gauge Reyes's body language. She kept her eyes fixed on Ashe. She knew on the face of it that what Ashe was telling her was implausible. Widow was the best sniper in the world, had made impossible shots in fractions of seconds. She knew some random girl, who did not have all her training and physiological advantages, had little claim to her throne.    
  
And yet. Ashe sounded so confident. Widow saw no fear in her eyes. And so Widow did not take the shot. The four of them stood frozen until the silence was broken with a, "Calamity?"   
  
Ashe blinked and looked away from Widow, only to immediately realize her mistake and look back– but Widow was lowering her gun as well. And so they both stared as Sombra walked towards Ashe, a widening smile on her face. Ashe's eyes widened. "Sombra?" she whispered.    
  
"Calamity!" Sombra laughed and ran to close the distance between them. The man on Reyes swung his gun towards her but Ashe held up a hand. "I knew it was you! Christ, I was wondering if I would see you here." She stopped a few feet in front of Ashe and Widow could now see that Ashe was smiling as well.    
  
"Well. I didn't quite think I'd ever see you again, to be honest."   
  
"Don't sound so disappointed. Pretty sure I remember someone threatening to send their butler after me if I ever... how did it go again? ‘Showed my pretty face 'round these parts?’"   
  
"And yet here you are," Ashe said. "Pretty face and all." Sombra laughed again and Ashe slung an arm around her shoulder and spun her towards the McDonalds. Widow desperately hoped her expression was neutral. "And you brought friends, too."   
  
"I knew I shouldn't have left them alone," Sombra said, in an exaggerated exhausted voice. "To much trouble, the lot of you." Ashe snorted, but nudged her in the ribs.    
  
"Sombra. Come on, now."   
  
"We got a guy we need dead. Not one of yours," she added quickly when Ashe's eyes narrowed. "Nuclear physicist, out at the plant. Could cause us some trouble down the road. We were just looking to scout things out, and didn't want to bother you over some silly assassination."   
  
"I appreciate that." Ashe took her arm off Sombra and rubbed her chin. "Those bastards think they're too good to pay dues, you know."   
  
"Sounds like a scientist."   
  
"Damn straight." Ashe waved a hand and the final man moved away from Reyes, who stood. Ashe looked between him and Widow. "These your people, or you one of theirs?"    
  
"Eh," Sombra said, at the same time as Reyes said, "she's one of mine." Ashe looked between them again and laughed.    
  
"Oh, you haven't changed a bit," she told Sombra. She turned towards her bike. "Come on, now. We can talk things out over tea, like civilized murderers."   
  
-   
  
"Well," Sombra said when they got back to the ship. "That went well!"    
  
Widow said nothing and Reyes took off his mask and rubbed his temples. "It definitely could have gone worse," he said. He looked up at Widow. "Why did you instigate?"   
  
Widow shrugged. She felt greasy, having been politely forcefed barbeque by Ashe's Omnic butler, and she was not looking forward to the hours-long flight back to base. "There were only four. I knew I could take them."   
  
"You didn't have to though," Reyes said. "And you couldn't. Ashe got the drop on you."

 

Widow’s hands curled into fists on her thighs but before she could speak, Sombra did. “Everything turned out okay,” she said. Her brow was furrowed in concern and Widow looked down at her lap. “Ashe is letting us pass through, for a pretty nominal fee. And this way we know we won’t have interference. Everything’s okay, so we don’t need to turn this into a thing.”

 

Widow knew Reyes was staring at her, but she did not raise her head. In any case, he soon turned and walked into the cockpit. Sombra took her hand and she sat down next to her in the passenger area as the ship lifted and sped up into the air.

 

“He’s not actually pissed at you or whatever,” Sombra said in a low voice. “He just doesn’t like when things don’t go according to plan.”

 

“I know,” Widow said. Sombra was still holding her hand. Widow bit her lip. “Why did you call that woman ‘Calamity’?”

 

“Oh, God.” Sombra laughed a little, and Widow struggled to keep her face neutral once more. “Ashe is… well, you saw her. She likes her cowgirl schtick. She was trying to make Calamity happen, back in the day, and hey, I’m not one to judge about edgy nicknames.” Sombra shook her head. “Guess she gave up on that, though.” 

 

“She doesn’t seem like the type to give up,” Widow said. Sombra laughed again.

 

“You’re right. She’d call it a tactical retreat.”

 

Widow nodded and let the conversation drop. Sombra did not seem to mind and curled up in her flight seat, still loosely holding Widow’s hand. Widow waited until Sombra was asleep and her hand had slipped free, and then she stood and went into the cockpit with Reyes.

 

“I know what Sombra told you,” he said before she could open her mouth. “I wasn’t mad because you didn’t follow orders. I’m mad because you risked your life unnecessarily. Out of vanity.”

 

“Not vanity,” Widow said, because while she could not argue with the rest of what he said, that part hurt. He glanced at her.

 

“Don’t do it again,” he said. She nodded and sat down in the co-pilot’s seat. It was twilight and every now and then, the cloud cover broke and she caught a glimpse of terrestrial lights on the horizon.

 

“What do you know about Ashe?” she asked. Reyes immediately laughed. Widow glared at him. “What’s so funny?”

 

“You know,” Reyes said. He glanced back over his shoulder and so did Widow, but Sombra was still fast asleep. “You wouldn’t be asking if you didn’t know,” he continued.

 

Widow slouched in her seat. “Still. I know you got that ridiculous McCree man from Deadlock. Surely you must have some new information about her.”

 

“I could tell you her criminal record, or her summary bio. But I don’t know what you’re going to get from that, Widow. I mean, come on. I know you weren’t the first person Gérard dated. This can’t be a completely novel experience.”

 

He was right. Widow had had to meet Gérard’s exes before, people with toothy smiles and opaque eyes in cocktail attire. And so she had experience playing nice with exes, before. She had always played her part secure in the knowledge that she had him now, this was not competition. She had won, and these were people she could confidently say had lost.

 

Sombra had given no more indication that she would go running back to Ashe than Gérard had when he had laughed at some man’s mediocre anecdote. And yet Widow was deeply unsure in a way she had never been before.

 

Reyes was watching her out of the corner of his eye. “You were there the whole time,” Widow said. “If you knew, why didn’t you say something? You could have stopped all their stupid banter.”

 

“Do you remember that time I ran into Morrison and Amari?” Reyes said. “And you and Sombra spent all that time taking pictures and texting each other about it, instead of stepping in and helping?”

 

Widow got up with a huff and stomped back to the passenger section. She could still hear Reyes laughing as she sat back down.

 

-

 

If Widow could tell Sombra what she was doing, she would have felt much better about it. Sombra could have hacked every camera in a five block radius, to surveil his approach and ensure he came alone. Sombra had friends all over Dorado, and could have called in some people to act as backup, should Widow need it. And Sombra could remotely hack his cybernetics, if that was what it came down to.

 

But the entire point of the exercise was that Widow could not tell Sombra. So she was nervous as she waited in the Dorado bar, and tracked Jesse McCree hawkishly as he approached her.

 

“Let’s get to it, then,” he said as he sat down. “‘Cuz I don’t think you invited me here just to buy me a drink.”

 

“Quite,” Widow said. The bartender deposited a whiskey in front of McCree without a word, and he wrapped his hand loosely around the glass. “You want to take down Deadlock, don’t you?”

 

“Not particularly,” he said. “I don’t go out lookin’ for trouble like that.”

 

“Right, right,” Widow said. “But their leader. Ashe. You want to get revenge on her, don’t you?”

 

“What? No. Look, Ashe doesn’t like me now, that’s her prerogative. But I don’t wish her ill. She can be a bastard but I also know she’s got some kind of heart, down there. Could have killed me about a thousand times, should have, probably. But she didn’t. Because I was family, and that means something to her.”

 

“Sombra doesn’t care about sentimental nonsense like that,” Widow muttered. McCree cocked his head.

 

“Sombra? Why’re you bringin’ up her?” Widow said nothing but McCree’s eyes widened anyway. “Well. Fancy that.” He took a sip of his whisky. “She is just Ashe’s type, now that you mention it.”

 

“That’s not the point,” Widow said icily. “The point is, I would like to… address the potential situation.”

 

“You think Sombra’s straying?”

 

“Not Sombra, I–”

 

“Let me tell you something about Ashe,” McCree said, cutting her off. “She’s proud as all hell. And she knows when to cut her losses. And let me tell you something about folks in general. If you think your partner’s going to stray the second someone bats their eyelashes at ‘em, they were never yours to begin with.” He set his glass down with a definitive clunk. “So I don’t know what you wanted me to do here. But I couldn’t do it, even if I wanted to.”

 

Widow stares down at the laminate countertop. “So you’re not going to help me,” she said.

 

“I only help people who need help. And you don’t need help.” Widow didn’t respond to him. She stood and walked out of the bar, leaving him to his whiskey. He did not fire at her back and he had not brought reinforcements, and she made her way back to her ship safely.

 

-

 

Akande was easier to convince. He was a businessman, he knew the weight of money, even of nominal fees. She had seen his jaw tighten when Reyes reported on their scouting mission to him. So when she told him she was interested in renegotiating, he gave her the all-clear immediately.

 

She arrived at night and stayed on the high ground as she moved through Deadlock territory. There were patrols in the streets but none of them looked up. Ashe’s mansion was at the end of a long road, and Widow clear the trip wires and swiftly made her way up to the second story window, making scarcely a sound.

 

But Ashe was still waiting for her when she climbed in through the window. Her rifle was across her lap. She smiled thinly. “Sombra doesn’t have the monopoly on surveillance, you know,” she said.

 

Widow straightened herself up slowly, very aware of Ashe’s eyes tracking her every movement. “I’m here to renegotiate our agreement,” she said.

 

“No you’re not.” Ashe drummed her fingers against the barrel of her rifle. “Sombra’s funny. She sure does have a type, doesn’t she?” Widow said nothing. Ashe laughed. “Well. You sure do seem like a lot of fun, but. No reason to drag this out.”

 

Ashe stood up from her chair. Widow reached for her rifle at the same moment that Ashe set hers down. Widow stared as Ashe walked towards her, until she was right in front of her.

 

“Sombra made her choice,” Ashe said. “And she chose you. So smile, darlin’. You got your prize.”

 

Ashe patted her cheek, and then turned and left. Widow did not move until she closed the door behind her, and then she slipped out the window and back into the shadows.

 

-

 

Sombra was waiting for her in her quarters when she got back. Her smile was not the worst one Widow had seen, not her smuggest and Sombra never looked at her with pity. But it still made her heart sink and she grabbed a bottle of wine as she slunk to the couch. “You know,” she said, popping the cork with one hand.

 

“I do,” Sombra said. She scooted closer to her. Widow took a large swig. “I’m, uh. Guessing you’ve realized it wasn’t necessary, by now?”

 

“She told me that,” Widow mumbled. Sombra snorted.

 

“Well. That was very thoughtful of her.”

 

“She told me you’d made my choice,” Widow said. She was watching her carefully. “That I’d gotten my prize.”

 

“Those were her exact words?” Widow nodded and Sombra shook her head. “See, that’s why I’m not with her anymore. Ashe treats people like things you win.”

 

Widow cocked her head. “You do that too,” she pointed out.

 

“Yeah, and I would never date me. Can you imagine? I’m lucky you’re dumb as shit, spider.” Widow laughed but when she looked back at Sombra, Sombra’s smile had faded slightly. “But I mean– imagine I was like that, Widow, but not because I needed to, or wanted something, or anything like that. Imagine if I was just like that because I was bored.”

 

Widow nodded and looked down at her folded hands. She could tell Sombra was waiting for her response. “I get that.” she said finally. “But what about me? What if I’m just doing this because I’m bored?”

 

“You’re not,” Sombra said.

 

“I don’t need to do this, I was wealthy, even with the conditioning, I could–”   
  


“Widow,” Sombra said, cutting her off. “You’re one of my people. I know you. And you’re not like her.”

 

Sombra was watching her intently. Widow set down the the bottle and reached over and cupped her face and kissed her. She let Sombra push her down until she was lying on top of her.

 

“You don’t have to worry,” Sombra whispered. Her lips were by her ear and her hands were on her hips. “I don’t want her. All I want is you.” Widow nodded minutely.

 

“Okay,” she said. “I’m yours.” And Widow could feel Sombra’s grin as she undid the button on her pants, and she smiled as well and slipped her hands under Sombra’s shirt and closed her eyes.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to tumblr user bridesombra for the inspiration, she has the best Spiderbyte hcs and you all should follow her!
> 
> I'm @tacticalgrandma on tumblr & twitter if you want to talk to me there.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, and any comments/kudos would mean the world <3


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